Permissions on External Hard drive

Question

Permissions on External Hard drive

I have a MacBook Air with latest OS. When I plug in an external (seagate) SSD, and look at information sharing & permissions, It says "you have custom access" and no way to change it. Most post say to use Disk Utility repair, but there seems to me no way anymore in disk utilities.

I have also gotten a "read-only" and when I click on that no options to change users or permission come up?

I have "erased" the drive (reformatted it) with the same results.

I Want to use this drive for Time Machine backups.

Help!

MacBook Air Apple Silicon

Posted on Dec 2, 2022 08:33 AM

Reply

Answer 1

lkrupp

Level 7

21,207 points

Dec 2, 2022 09:01 AM in response to RadioActive897

Okay, macOS is a completely different animal these days when it comes to permissions. You simply don’t need to worry about or fiddle with them. You can use this drive for Time Machine just the way it is. Only the System has read/write privileges and the user has access only through the System. That’s why you see Custom Access under permissions. Forget everything you thought you knew about macOS and permissions. And you are correct, there is no way the user can ‘repair’ permissions anymore. macOS is almost totally locked down to the user now.

Reply

Answer 2

Dec 2, 2022 09:13 AM in response to lkrupp

But when I try to do a backup it says disk is full. There is no files on drive.

When I try to drag a file into the drive I get a massage to the effect that I can save it there but will not be able too see it while others with permission will be able to see/use it.

Reply

Answer 3

Dec 2, 2022 08:41 AM in response to RadioActive897

What is the format of the drive?

Reply

Answer 4

Dec 2, 2022 08:47 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

Format of drive is APFS

Reply

Answer 5

Dec 2, 2022 09:24 AM in response to RadioActive897

If it is your Time Machine backup drive, it is read only for all but the Time Machine app.

Reply

Permissions on External Hard drive

Similar questions